Sorry for the brain dump. I have no time to edit this into a more coherent post. But I do think it's important to check in on how training is going. We're post-liminal space now. We're "in season." I've been relying on B-vitamins and ginseng to give me the energy to get through semester weeks 4 and 5. I'm starting to really look forward to the Mission Inn Run.
9/14 Morning run routine and motivation for consistent workouts
Good morning, runners of the world. I'm now here, it's a Monday morning. My feet are already hurting. This workout is kind of questionable. Don't know if I should be doing this right now. But I'm up. My husband woke me up. I'm ready to get my workout in and get on with my day. It's not a big deal, right?
People everywhere get up, do a workout, and get on with their day. I try to keep it simple. Follow the training plan. I trust the training plan. Sometimes life gets in the way. My son has been saying every food tastes like something else. Cucumbers taste like lime. Blueberries taste like dirt. I'm pretty convinced it's the sickness that we're dealing with. And as usual, my husband got it really bad. I'm in denial. And our child is just turning into a tiny Tasmanian devil. Because he doesn't know what to do with himself. He's sick and tired, and he's just running on adrenaline.
I don't know what I'm doing. I do know. I'm okay. Doing my little warm-up here. I'm getting my heart rate up walking up a big hill. I know how to do this. I trust my body. I trust my instincts. Although, my instincts today told me I just need to stretch, and not do a workout, but here we are.
At least the weather's kind of nice, 66°. I'll take that. Better than it has been. One morning last week it was 80 degrees at this time, so 66 feels nice. I felt really good after yesterday's run. I felt a lot of positive vibes. Which is why I decided to go out today.
I did my first upper body workout with my friend, Erik. That was good. I'm not that sore. I feel like I did something, I really did. I did something different. I did something brave. I did something that I would normally not do. And I'm okay. I don't feel so sore that I would never do it again. I will do it again. I will do it again. I will do it every Saturday. I will put it into my schedule. Do it. I gotta take a closer look at Coach David's plan.
I am at the top of this hill. Keep going. I tried to listen to a podcast, but it didn't really inspire me today. So I'll probably listen to music. Catch you next time.
9/22 Recovery and training routine after illness and donation
It's a good morning, it's a good morning to not get hit by a car. Hopefully these cars stop, they have a red light. You just never know with people, but I'm here, I'm out here training.
It's 24 weeks till the marathon. And despite all the foot issues that I've been having, I figured out that I just need to sleep with my feet in a flexed position. And that has helped greatly. Yesterday at work, my feet were feeling really good. Of course, I didn't run yesterday, but I'm gonna try a run today. See how that tracks.
I've had a lot going on in the past two weeks with my foot issues. We got sick. We got the flu. We've got diarrhea, nausea. I couldn't heal properly, I'm so tired. And this weekend, I donated blood. So we're gonna see how we feel going into the Bimbo race this weekend. Do a little couple laps around the Rose Bowl just for funzies.
I kind of switched up Monday and Tuesday. My husband got a little agitated by that. He likes it when I do my rest day on Tuesday. I wrote about how I felt like I was in a liminal space. A liminal space between 2 training plans. At the end of summer, the beginning of school, I almost feel like I'm probably in the groove of school. I don't say I'm thriving yet, but starting to get some traction. Trying to figure out what I can do. What I can do comfortably. And not have a total body breakdown. Because we want to train productively. My husband reminded me I usually find my groove mid-semester, like week 8 or 10 and then the semester ends. And I get a whole new schedule. And then it's chaos again.
By training, we want to cause adaptations in our body that lead to greater fitness. And what we don't want to do is break down to the point where we can't go on. I don't know how, but I was kind of there. If your body's not recovering, then you're just digging a deeper and deeper hole. Can't rest your way out of it. Can't eat your way out of it.
I've added on some other recovery things. I try to do it every single night. Magnesium foot soak and athlete's foot cream (1% clotrimazole NOT tolnaftate). Foam roll a bit. A little bit more on the muscle scraping right now to remove adhesions. I'm putting a lot more time and energy into recovery now. But it is pushing bedtime back by 30 minutes.
9/24 LARR Coach's call
What is 80/20 for runners? 80% low intensity, 20% high intensity. But that's not the perfect plan for everyone. It is what is used in Coach David's Level 4 plan for the LA Marathon.
As you age, you need to go down a level because you have less growth hormone. Level 1 is for age 70. Level 5 is for someone in their 20s. It has nothing to do with experience.
Run so slow that you're bored. So that you need company. That is your easy pace. Easy = fat-burning, aerobic, zone 2. MRP = zone 3, could maintain this pace forever. T-pace raises the pace at which you still can use fat as a fuel source. R-pace is neurological, engaging fast-twitch muscles.
Speed, volume, hills all increase the risk of injury. Fartlek is Swedish for speed play. Choosing a random object and going fast to get to it. Something you can see.
Morning & evening runs are the best. If we could all do it. On the same day. To increase volume efficiently. You can do 30 minutes in the morning. Then eat protein to rebuild muscle. Take a nap. Do some body work (massage). Then run again in the evening. Break it up if you can. That's what the pros do.
Why is the training plan in minutes rather than miles? Your body knows heart rate. It doesn't know miles. It knows time spent in anaerobic. You don't need to rely on an expensive heart rate monitor. You can just pay attention to your breathing.
Key Takeaways
I think based on what Coach was saying, and this was one of the questions I was going to ask him, if I got injured following the level 3 plan for the Santa Monica Classic, which plan should I follow for the marathon? I think he said that if you get injured, drop back to level 1.
Coach also said that as you get older, you may need more strength training than what is written in the plan. He said if you're Travis Kelce and you're already built like a truck, you might not need more exercises that build muscle. But if you're frail, with less muscle tissue, then you might need more strength training than what is in the training plan.
Even with all these setbacks, I only completely skipped 1 training session. The other days, I inserted stretching or yoga or walking. It took me 2 weeks to reach out to my sister and ask for help. Why am I so stubborn? haha! Next time I'll try to reach out sooner.
Thank you to summer me who decided to order new shoes. I went through all my shoes and did a test to see if they would bend easily. Even though they're new, the Ghost 17 and Glycerin 22 bend so easily. But thankfully, the Ghost Max 2 does not. I kept preferring to run in the Ghost Max 2 but I didn't really know why. So I bought two more pairs from Amazon. Amazingly I have 3 pairs of shoes that I can rotate and I wear the running shoes during the day while teaching. So I don't have any dedicated running shoes, at the moment. But at least I am getting the plantar faschiitis under control.
